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The appointment of Mary Jo White to head up the Securities and Exchange Commission is an attempt to make a clear and definitive statement. The Obama administration wants investors and savers to believe that it is prioritizing the policing of Wall Street during the President’s second term.

Unfortunately, with much of the landmark Dodd-Frank reforms still unimplemented, these same investors and savers remain exposed to many of the same risks that drove the financial markets to the breaking point in 2008.

White is an accomplished former prosecutor, and brings with her a serious resume including time as a US Attorney, as well as a decade defending white-collar criminals in private practice. Her knowledge of the rules of the road for both sides makes her an appealing choice for running the SEC. Many observers believe she will likely follow in the footsteps of the outgoing boss, Mary Schapiro, and make use of aggressive tactics favored by federal prosecutors.

What remains unclear, however, is how the SEC will fulfill its equally important role as a rule-maker in the coming years. Launching high profile civil cases is only one part of the agency’s wide-ranging responsibilities.

The Government Accountability Office recently reported that at the close of 2012, US regulators have adopted and implemented only half of the rules mandated by Dodd-Frank, which was originally passed in 2010. As a result, the regulation of financial markets is still fragmented and the reforms originally adopted with so much fanfare remain incomplete.

Coordination between different federal agencies has proven hard to orchestrate in the real world. For example, the controversial Volcker rule remains unfinished, as the SEC has been unable to reach a consensus with the other regulatory bodies involved, including the Federal Reserve and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.

Dodd-Frank has tested the resources and resolve of the SEC. Today, the SEC has yet to prove that the faith placed in it by Congress, and ultimately the American public, is warranted. Memories of the agency’s numerous shortcomings during the years leading up to the financial crisis are still too fresh in our minds.

The role that the SEC is required to play is complex and multi-faceted. Its chair must be willing to ensure that the agency is operating to maximum effect across its full range of responsibilities. Even areas as boring and mundane as rule-making.

A continued failure to get the “basic stuff” right will leave the SEC open to severe criticism when the next embarrassing scandal erupts.